Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. At the outset, I acknowledge that Ireland, and the entire world, is facing a cost-of-living crisis driven by inflation, which is largely caused by international factors beyond our control, as the Deputy acknowledged. The cost of everything is going up and the cost of very little is going down. People can see that in their utility bills, when they go to the petrol station to fill up their tanks with petrol or diesel and in their grocery bills. A lot of families are struggling and a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet as a consequence of that. As the Deputy acknowledged, this is not driven by Government policy. It is driven largely by international factors, including the rising cost of energy and the war in Ukraine. The zero Covid policy still being pursued by China is not helping.

As Sinn Féin has acknowledged on many occasions, no Government is in a position to compensate people fully for the fact that the cost of living has risen by so much. We are here to help and the Deputy is right to call on us to help some more. So far, the Government has provided €2.4 billion to homes, households and families to help them with the rising cost of living. A usual budget package is €1 billion or maybe €2 billion. We have already introduced measures totalling €2.4 billion so far this year. Far from being a mini-budget, we have done more since January than would be done in the average budget, with €2.4 billion in spending to help people with the very high cost of living. There was a pension increase and a social welfare increase in January, as well as an increase in the minimum wage and reductions in income tax, which were not supported by the Deputy's party, it is worth saying. People are having €200 taken off their electricity bills at the moment. Public transport costs have been reduced and that seems to be very successful given the increase in the number of people using the bus and the train. VAT has been cut on electricity and gas to the extent we could within European law. We have also reduced excise on petrol and diesel. There have also been targeted actions in relation to the fuel allowance, for example, particularly helping those families who suffer the most from high energy costs.

We are of course exploring other measures. The Deputy will be aware that there is legislation before the House at the moment that would eliminate hospital charges for children. We would like to go further again and eliminate them for adults as well.

We are examining what else we can do. Pay negotiations have now started, involving the Government and public sector unions, on what we can do around a new pay agreement. While we are a while away from an agreement, I think it is fair to say we will come to an agreement at some point, and that will mean increases in wages and salaries for public servants to help them with the cost of living. That is happening in the private sector as well, where employers that can afford pay increases are providing them.

We are also examining what we can do in the area of childcare. Childcare is very expensive in Ireland relative to other European countries. Often, the families facing high childcare costs are the same families that are trying to pay the rent and trying to save for a home. It affects young families in particular. We will be working on solutions over the next few months that might help them with the cost of childcare. That is something the Government can do.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, is also looking at some proposals regarding the cost of education. It is very expensive for middle-income families to put one or two kids through college, and we are looking at solutions in those areas as well.

In summary, as the Deputy acknowledged, inflation is being driven largely by international factors. No government anywhere in the world can fully compensate people for that. What we have done so far, worth €2 billion, is more than a mini-budget. It is the kind of thing that is usually done in two budgets, and that is what we have done since January. Of course, we are open to taking more action if we can.

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